The sun glares red through smoky haze.
Flames lick up through blackened trees.
Leaves curl and float upon the breeze.
With their embers fire carries.
Over forest gums there hovers
A cloud of smoke that chokes and covers
Everything that it drifts over.
Deadened logs and blackened bark
Give off crackle, give off spark
Through the smoke haze dense and dark.
Exploding logs are all around.
The grass is bare and blackened ground.
Of forest birds there is no sound.
Animals have fled the plight
Of being burned by scorching might
Of orange flame. Their flight
Has left the forest silent, still,
Where nothing lives, and nothing will
Grow restored and green, until
The rain comes once again to bless
The forest with its soft caress.